Tweets

Topics

Blogs

Tag: Japan

Made it back from Japan. We scouted out Matsumoto as a future home for a year or two. It’s nestled near the Japanese Alps, has a laid back atmosphere and cooler climate than Tokyo or Kyoto. Assuming we gain basic fluency in Spanish this next year, we may be moving there so I can do the same with Japanese.

Visiting Japan is like visiting the future. Especially so when coming from Ecuador. We caught up with old friends and Miho flew in from Ishigaki, Okinawa to share a room and visit with us in Kyoto. Met some new folks and one crazy young world traveler (Masato) in Asakusa that we met in Ecuador back in February (he passed us a copy of his amazing travel photo book.) And, of course, we indulged in all the yummy food.

After busy days, it was fun to retire back to our lodging, take a hot bath with the exotic spa powders and sip a craft beer (yay! They’ve come to Japan!) while watching season 3 of Black Mirror piped from my dinky Surface 3 to their 60” behemoth room TVs. Travel is not as austere as it used to be 🙂 In fact I’d like to make travel as seamless as possible. Since it’s no longer a “vacation” but rather a lifestyle, some rules of the game change. Dabbling with art projects in coffee-shops, connecting with the nature and rhythm of the place, meditating on the train. Deepening bonds with old friends, enjoying the serendipity of changing locales and, for me, re-immersion in the language. Instead of putting things on hold during the trip, things continue with enhancements 🙂

Back home here in Cuenca there’s a series of festivals, all souls day, all saints day and culminating tomorrow in Cuenca independence day. And today’s the 3rd and last day of my 3 day fast after returning, I think I’m almost reset.

Well, not quite reset. Sleeping hours are wonky for both of us. It’s an easy adjustment to Japan but coming back takes a week or two. Luckily our schedules are a bit fluid.